No "Unreasonable" Fee under Texas DRPC

The Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct (“the Rules”) govern, among other things, the fees that Texas attorneys may charge.  Under Rule 1.04(a),

A lawyer shall not enter into an arrangement for, charge, or collect an illegal fee or unconscionable fee.  A fee is unconscionable if a competent lawyer could not form a reasonable belief that the fee is reasonable.

Thus, according to the Rules, a lawyer’s fee is either reasonable, illegal, or unconscionable.  It cannot be unreasonable in the disciplinary context!

Given Texas consumer statutes that sanction unconscionable conduct, attorneys are forewarned to charge reasonable rates or else!

Comments

[Dennis]

How does one determine if their fee is reasonable without going afoul of the antitrust statutes? I would think attorneys would ask other attorneys about their fees and base their own fees on that research, but then doesn't that create an appearance of price fixing?

[Benjamin]

That is an issue I bring up all the time in my CLE presentations. We are supposed to be able to testify as to what is reasonable in a given community, but how are we supposed to learn what is reasonable in a given community? Just because you think your fee may be reasonable does not make it so. The best answer I can give at this time is to listen to other attorneys in court and look at what opposing counsels are charging. There is no easy answer to this dilemma.

[Dennis]

Follow up to my earlier post. When an attorney moves to a new jurisdiction, how should the attorney go about setting his fees? Example, newly admitted attorney went to law school in State A and has never lived in Texas before the bar prep, how should he go about setting fees if he goes solo immediately in Texas.

Is an attorney really charging an illegal or unconscionable fee if his exposure in State A is that a particular matter should result in a flat fee of $5,000 but in Texas, unbeknownst to him, the appropriate fee is $2,500?

I assume that there is probably some significant variation in fees around Texas from San Antonio to Houston to Dallas and also in the many small towns in Texas.

What happens when a lawyer in Dallas opens a satellite office in another city, is he required to research the local fees, or can he charge his customary fee?

[Nicole]

Is 40% an unreasonable fee to charge in a sexual harrassment and sexual assault civil case?

[christian louboutin]

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[adult chat]

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[jennifer west (confused in kentucky)]

i live in ky and have a class action lawsuit in tx and the case is done and over and i won so now the attorney that has worked my case has charged 40% and is getting more then me .. My question is can they do that and is it ok if i dont agree with the fee ?

[Benjamin K. Sanchez]

Most class actions invariably enrich the attorneys more than any one client. Normally if you don't agree with a settlement proposal, you have an opt-out period. You should ask your counsel if you are still within the opt-out period if you disagree with the settlement. If so, you can request to be removed from the class-action settlement and proceed with your own case, assuming you find an attorney to take it.